By Willy Kabwe

KINSHASA, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Fresh faces in Congo's new government will help give it a clean start to rebuild a nation crippled by war, mismanagement and graft, analysts say, but some Congolese fear those excluded may try to disrupt its work.

The cabinet named on Monday after weeks of delays included political allies of President Joseph Kabila, who won last year's historic elections in Democratic Republic of Congo, the first free polls in the former Belgian colony in more than 40 years.

The biggest share of the 40 ministerial posts went to Kabila's People's Party for Reconstruction and Democracy (PPRD), including key jobs such as defence and finance.

But the new administration brought in some fresh figures untainted by the accusations of kleptocracy and bad government that have dogged the country's politics for years.

"The fact that the PPRD has the lion's share in a sense makes it quite homogenous. He clearly rewarded people who had been with him from the beginning," said Caty Clement, think-tank International Crisis Group's Central Africa Project Director.

"On the other hand, you have a new guard which starts more or less with a clean sheet in terms of governance and corruption," she told Reuters.

The justice, mines and budget portfolios, also seen as important positions, went to members of the Socialist-leaning Unified Lumumbist Party (PALU) of Antoine Gizenga, an opposition veteran appointed prime minister in December by Kabila.

Former rebel leader Mbusa Nyamuisi was rewarded with foreign affairs for backing Kabila in the second round of last year's polls while Francois Joseph Mobutu Nzanga, son of late dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, was named minister of state for agriculture.

BAD LOSERS

Congo is as big as Western Europe and control of its huge reserves of copper, cobalt, diamonds and other minerals was a major factor in a 1998-2003 war that drew in six foreign armies.

The war sparked a humanitarian crisis that has killed an estimated 4 million people, mainly through hunger and disease.

Fighting continues in eastern areas, where ethnic militia still operate despite the presence of the world's biggest international peacekeeping force, and some in the capital feared the new government would face challenges from old enemies.

"This government is made up of a few parties and political groupings representing a few provinces in the country. The head of state and his prime minister have still not understood that exclusion has never worked in Congo since independence," said one Kinshasa resident, who gave his name simply as Kanyinda.

Some feared the RCD opposition party, a former eastern rebel group led by failed presidential contender Azarias Ruberwa, would seek revenge after being awarded no seats in government.

"The exclusion of Ruberwa will relaunch his military activities in the east," said another Kinshasa inhabitant, Mbalaka Sekana, who also questioned whether the newcomers in the government had the necessary experience.

"For the most part they've made do with unknown ministers whose profiles and experience are unreliable. At this historic moment for our country we don't want apprentices or amateurs managing public affairs," he said.

Some analysts said the new line-up was unlikely to change the real power base in Congo.

"The political horse-trading that took place between the first and second rounds of the presidential election ... meant that most of the key posts were already promised to individuals such as Gizenga and Mobutu," Gus Selassie, an Africa analyst at research group Global Insight, said in a note.

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